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T O P I C R E V I E W

ASCAN1984

What are the best astronaut military-related stories?

Has to be great ones, e.g. Buzz Aldrin's first MiG kill.

Hart Sastrowardoyo

Didn't Bill Shepherd tell the astronaut board his best asset was killing someone with a knife?

p51

I bet the few astroauts who were SEALs might have had a few good ones.

Hoot Gibson probably had some doozies as well, I'd bet.

Henry Heatherbank

What about the one where Dave Scott (back seat) and another pilot (Mike Adams? front seat) smacked an F-104 on to the tarmac at Edwards. Scott ejected and the other guy stayed onboard.

Both chose the right course of action in that split-second: the engine was pushed forward into the rear seat compartment where Scott had been, and the other guy's ejection seat got twisted in its rails by the impact, and so would have misfired killing him if he had tried to eject.

How fate is decided by split-second decisions: if each had chosen the other option, they'd be dead.

(To be fair, I think the gear failed on touchdown, so "smacked" might be a little insulting to the pilots.)

Grounded!

I like Jim Lovell's well-known story about navigating back to the carrier Shangri-La after the cockpit went dark in his F2H Banshee, by following the phosphorescent wake left by the ship. I'll bet he was glad to plant his feet on the deck after that mission!

I always thought it must have rankled some of the HOT test pilot astronauts knowing Dr. Rendezvous had two MiG kills and they didn't...

328KF

One of my favorites has always been from John Glenn flying the F-86 in Korea. His squadron mate was shot down and he circled the area to protect him until help arrived. They got there, but Glenn had loitered too long and was very low on fuel.

He climbed up to 41,000' or so to save gas, but the engine flamed out. With no cabin pressure, the canopy frosted over as he glided across friendly lines and dead-sticked into the first American airbase he could reach.

Now for most pilots, it's time to call it a day, go have a beverage, and tell a great story. But not Glenn. He jumps right into another F-86, takes off, and goes right back to the spot where he knew his buddy was.

I'll save the rest of the story for those who haven't read his book, but this kind of thing made Glenn a hero long before the space program came along.